Why not one downtown? Or on Kalamazoo's West Side where retail development is growing?

I put in a few calls and an email to a representative of Schuler Books and Music Inc. The Grand Rapids-based company owns five bookstores in Michigan, including a new downtown Grand Rapids store.

Seems company owners Bill and Cecile Fehsenfeld have been pretty busy opening that new Grand Rapids store. They haven't gotten back to me. (Read more about that store on the blog of Grand Rapids Press business reporter Chris Knape.)

The Ann Arbor-based company owns 18 stores in Michigan and recently opened a new one on the east side of the state in Canton, just down the road from IKEA, said Kolleen O'Meara.

Unfortunately, O'Meara said the company considers all information about its expansion plans and even how it evaluates cities for possible expansion to be proprietary business information.

But she promised to let me know if Borders decides to put a new store in Kalamazoo.

So, I got on the phone with David Deason, vice president of development for Barnes & Noble.

Deason was able to be much more forthcoming about how the large bookseller picks sites for new stores.

It comes down to space, traffic and other nearby businesses, he said. Today, B&N is targeting lifestyle centers with family-friendly restaurants like T.G.I. Fridays, P.F. Changs, and Cheesecake Factory.

"We really want to congregate with those higher volume restaurants," he said.

A community the size of Kalamazoo isn't high up on their list currently, but could get a second store in the next three to five years, he said.

And could that be downtown?

Alex NixonFuture site of a downtown bookstore? DKI sure would love to knock down these buildings on East Michigan Avenue.

"We certainly look at urban areas," Deason said. "But the reality is that in America only a small number of cities have the residential population to support our business."

Since the Athena Book Shop closed in November 2005, downtown development organization Downtown Kalamazoo Inc. has wanted to find a new bookseller to take its place, said Vicky Kettner, DKI spokeswoman.

"That type of business is on the shortlist for what would work down here," Kettner said. "We know that people want it."

But trying to convince a major bookseller like Borders or B&N to move in downtown is difficult, she said.

"They're looking at bigger markets than Kalamazoo," she said. "The bottom line is that the numbers have to work."

More likely to succeed would be to foster a local, independent business person to open a bookstore, she said.